Tag: Daimler

IBM, Ford not liable for ‘apartheid claims’ – US court

A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed a 12-year-old lawsuit accusing Ford Motor and IBM of encouraging human rights abuses in apartheid-era SA, reluctantly concluding the case does not belong in US courts.

US district judge Shira Scheindlin said last week the black South Africans who brought the case did not show “relevant conduct” by Ford and IBM within the US to justify holding the companies liable.

The plaintiffs had accused Ford, IBM and other companies of having between the 1970s and early 1990s aided SA’s former apartheid government in abuses such as killings and torture, by having made military vehicles and computers for government security forces.

“That these plaintiffs are left without relief in an American court is regrettable,” Scheindlin wrote. “But I am bound to follow [legal precedent], no matter what my personal view of the law may be.”

The case had been brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law that lets non-US citizens pursue some cases in US courts over alleged violations of international law.

In April 2013, the US Supreme Court said that law was presumed to cover only violations in the United States, or violations elsewhere that “touch and concern” US territory “with sufficient force”.

Four months later, the federal appeals court in Manhattan applied that holding, and said the Ford and IBM cases should be dismissed altogether.

In April, Scheindlin nonetheless gave the plaintiffs one more chance, to meet the new standards imposed by those higher courts.

But in Thursday’s decision, she said the bar proved too high, and that any alleged international law violations were by Ford’s and IBM’s South African units, and occurred abroad.

“It has been 12 years. We’re really disappointed, devastated by the decision,” said Diane Sammons, a partner at Nagel Rice in Roseland, New Jersey, who represents some plaintiffs.

“The end result of the ruling is that corporations can act abroad with impunity, even if they’re totally controlling the activities of their foreign subsidiaries,” she added. “I don’t think the Supreme Court’s decision was that narrowly defined.”

She said the plaintiffs had not decided whether to appeal.

Jonathan Hacker, an O’Melveny & Myers partner who represents Ford, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Keith Hummel, a Cravath, Swaine & Moore partner who represents IBM, did not immediately respond to similar requests.

Germany’s Daimler and Rheinmetall were dismissed as defendants in December. – Reuters

US court rules against liability of German companies for apartheid

daimlerA district court in the US has ruled German companies could not be held responsible for the atrocities committed by the former apartheid regime in South Africa. The decision came after years of legal disputes.

German carmaker Daimler and defense group Rheinmetall could not be linked to any atrocities committed by the apartheid government in South Africa , a judge ruled in the US.

New York District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin made it clear the two German companies could not be sued for compensation under a US law known as the Alien Tort Statute. This allows non-US citizens to bring cases before a court in the United States if they see a violation of international law.

Predominantly South African plaintiffs, victims of racial segregation and violence in the country, maintained that Daimler, Rheinmetall and other firms had supported the apartheid regime through their close business ties with the South African government in the 1970s and 1980s, including the sale of cars and munitions.

Questions remain

A spokesman for the two German companies hailed the ruling, welcoming the legal clarity that had finally been established after years of fierce recriminations.

“We hope that this decision will finally bring to an end more than ten years of legal dispute,” Daimler said in a statement.

But the US judge did not immediately dismiss similar claims made against US companies Ford Motor and IBM, who were not immediately available for comment. – Deutsche Welle

French ban on Mercedes angers Germans

mercedesA ban by France’s socialist government on the registration of several top-end Mercedes-Benz models has infuriated the German luxury carmaker and forced Brussels to step in to try to defuse the growing dispute.
Sales of thousands of the most prestigious Mercedes cars have been halted in France since Paris last month refused to allow the registration of four new models that include a refrigerant in their air-conditioning systems that has been banned by the EU on environmental grounds.

The issue escalated late last week when the government invoked an EU “safeguard procedure”, allowing it to act unilaterally to prevent a serious risk to road safety, the environment or public health. It acted after a French court had ordered a 10-day stay of execution for Daimler while the registration block was reviewed.

“The registration of Daimler/Mercedes vehicles classes A, B, CLA and SL remain banned in France as long as the company does not conform to active European regulation,” the environment ministry said.

Daimler said the French decision – Paris is to date the only EU country to issue a ban – was “absolutely inexplicable” and added it would take further legal action as a result.

Officials in Brussels said on Monday they were consulting with Berlin and Paris on the issue and would bring the two sides together in September in a bid to resolve it.

The dispute has highlighted the marked contrast between the state of the car industry in the two countries. PSA Peugeot Citroën, and to a lesser extent Renault, have suffered heavily from a big slump in demand for their mainly small and medium-sized cars.

Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen have, meanwhile, surged ahead, profiting from their premium models that have proved highly popular in emerging markets. France was riled last month when Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, blocked an EU move to impose tougher curbs on auto emissions that would have hit German makers of big cars.

The Mercedes issue revolves around an air-conditioning coolant called R134a which the EU outlawed from January. Daimler argues that the replacement coolant is dangerously flammable.

Jean-Claude Bernard, head of the Association of Mercedes-Benz dealers in France, said the action was politically motivated “to please the greens and damage a German manufacturer”.

The coolant is used in 95 per cent of cars in France with air conditioning.

The association wrote to the environment minister complaining that 11,000 jobs were at stake and demanding an end to the ban. – FT